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Friday, May 25, 2012

NBA vs NHL Regular Season Attendance

NBA vs NHL Regular Season Attendance

As the NBA and NHL seasons come to an end for 2012, popularity of each sport should be analyzed. Taking a look at fan attendance can be a good signal to determine how popular each sport currently is. This article will take a look at regular season attendance for five major cities that have both a NBA and NHL team. The cities that will be analyzed to represent the NBA and NHL are New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington.

The Data

The table below breaks down the average attendance for each team in the five cities analyzed for the 2011-2012 season. The league rank will be a better determinant on the popularity of sport as opposed to the average regular season attendance because the regular season attendance can vary due to stadium size.

City

Team and
Sport

Average
Regular Season Attendance

League
Rank (out of 30)

New York

Knicks (NBA)

19,763

5

New York

Rangers (NHL)

18,191

14

Philadelphia

76ers (NBA)

17,502

14

Philadelphia

Flyers (NHL)

20,433

3

Los Angeles

Lakers (NBA)

18,997

8

Los Angeles

Clippers
(NBA)

19,219

7

Los Angeles

Kings (NHL)

17,920

15

Chicago

Bulls (NBA)

22,161

1

Chicago

Blackhawks
(NHL)

21,533

1

Washington

Wizards (NBA)

16,728

18

Washington

Capitals
(NHL)

18,506

12

What Does the Data Tells Us?

Each city can analyze its own data separately to see which sport is more popular. This data is for the 2011-2012 season so success of each team obviously is a large factor in attendance.

New York

The Knicks are one of the most storied franchises in all of sports. Popularity of the Knicks is evident with the 5th ranking in NBA attendance. The Knicks made the playoffs in 2012. The Rangers also made the playoffs in 2012, yet they rank at about the halfway point of the NHL with a rank of 14th. The Knicks continued popularity seems to be sustainable. New York has proved to show more appreciation for basketball.

Philadelphia

The 76ers had a good season that resulted in a playoff appearance. They rank at 14th in NBA attendance. The Flyers made the playoffs in 2012, yet they ranked at 3rd in all of the NHL in attendance. Philadelphia may just be a hockey town.

Los Angeles

Los Angeles is a rare case in which they have three teams playing in the same stadium. Two NBA teams and one NHL team. The Clippers came in 7th place in attendance barely out ranking the 8th place Lakers. The Clippers success was mainly due to a high powered free agent signing. The NHL team, the Kings, finished at the midway point (15th) in NHL attendance. All three of these teams made the playoffs, so what does this say? Los Angeles must prefer basketball. The long and impressive legacy of the Lakers always is sure to draw fans, and the uprising of the Clippers will lead to an interesting battle for fans in the Los Angeles area.

Chicago

Chicago just dominated as far as attendance. They ranked number one in both the NBA and NHL with the Bulls and the Blackhawks. Both teams had successful years and made the playoffs. Chicago proves to be a passionate sports town.

Washington

The Wizards had a dreadful NBA season and finished 18th in the NBA rankings for attendance. The Capitals made the playoffs and finished with a rank of 12th in the NHL attendance. Washington is difficult to analyze for 2012 because both teams had average ranks, yet the teams had drastically different performances. If the Wizards had a better year would the NBA rank be better than the Capitals NHL rank? This is a difficult question to answer, yet I could see this happening.

What Does the Data Say About the Leagues as a Whole?

This data was used to represent two entire leagues. It would be unfair to make assumptions about entire leagues based on five cities......

BUT..... I will...

Final Thought

Although exceptions exist, I believe that both sports are thriving individually. Attendance is only one aspect to analyze the popularity of sports but it is an important aspect. The NHL has bounced back since its lockout a few years back and although the NBA still had a season, I believe that many fans may be upset with the NBA. In a few years the NBA could look back at this shortened 2011-2012 season and realize that it was a turning point as far as attendance. I would not be surprised to see NBA league wide attendance rise in the coming years. The same could be said for the NHL. I believe the NHL will see league wide attendance either stay the same or rise slightly.

As far as the five cities that I broke down, at the end of the day..... some cities prefer hockey and some cities prefer basketball.

8 comments:

Great post, Drew. I wonder what really makes a city prefer one sport over the other. Also, naturally, I'm intrigued to see how the 76ers attendance performs next season. They saw a jump from 25th to 14th mostly because of the new ownership so it will be interesting to see if the city buys into the team.Fun fact: The 76ers sold more paid tickets this year in the 66 game lockout-shortened season than they did last season in 82 games.

I think a better way to do this would be to analyze the teams that play in the same arena differently. In Philadelphia's example, during 76ers games, there is a capacity of 21,315 (with standing room, 20,318 without). During Flyers games, they have to remove seats thus the capacity is 19,537. It's not a great big difference, but I wonder if the data would change if instead of raw attendance stats, you used percentage of seats sold. Whether or not it changes the data, who knows, but it may give you a more accurate idea of the volume of tickets being sold.

That is a good point. I mentioned earlier in the article that I thought the rank was more important than the raw attendance numbers because of stadium size and situations like you brought up. Thanks for the feedback.

Good article Drew but the only thing I might add is the stadium capacities. Part of the reason Chicago has the highest numbers is because the have the biggest arena. Your point about people showing up is obviously still very valid. Also I know the Capitals sellout basically every game. But the reason why their numbers are down is because their arena is on the smaller side. Just an interesting point to consider.

That is a great point. There are so many factors that go into the attendance numbers, thats why I think the rank within the sport is more important than the actual numbers of attendees. Thanks for your feedback.